Cafe Ket Noi – inaugural exhibition

Opening: Fri 28 Nov, 7pm
Exhibition: 28 Nov-12 Dec 2008

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Photo exhibition by Danish photographer Catherine Dolleris at this newly opened art cafe.

This art cafe is specialising in ethnic art and is supporting the community at Vu Linh – meaning that if people want to buy some of the photos 20% goes to this community.

Catherine Dolleris has exhibitied previously in Hanoi.

Cathrine has lived in Vietnam for two and a half years and before that in Nepal, South Africa and France. She studied geography as her major in Copenhagen and South Africa. The hardship and joy of people living in poverty and the consequences of development on the socio-economy and environment of poor people is her main working area. This brought her to work for Care, an international NGO, and lately for the Danish Embassy in Hanoi.
For Cathrine, Vietnam is a fascinating country with stark contrasts, for example: The urban life and rapid development of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City compared to the slower pace of rural Vietnam; The density of people living together in the city compared to the vastness of the mountainous areas; The cultural differences between the city dwellers and the mountainous peoples; and the different roles of men and women.
The relation between communities and nature is a turning point in Cathrine’s view of the world. The main questions being:
How do people organize themselves in different rural and urban environments?
What are the consequences of this organization on the social, religious and cultural expressions of these communities?
“Yesterday, today and tomorrow” is a snapshot of Vietnam in a moment in time. Some expressions of the Vietnamese culture are eternal and deeply rooted in the past. The challenges Cathrine perceives are centered on how the Vietnamese will shape their own future in face of the rapid social, economic and environmental development.
See more of her pictures on www.dolleris.info